Kuzano

And Merry Christmas to me. I just received my big Fujica film camera back from Frank Marshman in Virginia. "Da Man" for fixing these big Fujica (now Fujifilm) camera's. Franks been fixing or CLA'ing my Fuji's for about 15 years now.

The camera's are so simple... the essence of manual operation, and not even a battery.. No meter. I carry along a Gossen Luna Pro SBC or a Gossen Super Pilot.

When Press camera's downsized from 4x5 in the 60's, Fujica was early out with "tank like" interchangeable lens Press camera's, the G690 being an early. So much like the Leica Rangefinder 35 film camera's of the time, but shooting a huge 6x9 centimeter frame on 120 and 220 roll film, the camera became dubbed the "Texas Leica". Some confusion on this but this is the REAL Texas Leica.

Rangefinder Focus
This is a later GL 690 (two shutter buttons)
Shown with the 65MM f5.6 (28mm 35 eq) and 100mm f3.5 (40mm 35 eq) these camera's had a series of excellent Fujinon Glass (can you say as good as Hasselblad lens) ranging from 50mm to 250mm.

These Medium Format camera's came in 6X7, 6X8 (never imported US) and 6X9. Fujifilm also made 6x17 Panorama.

(Fujifilm also made the Hasselblad X-Pan panoramic 35mm for Hassel blad... yes great glass Fujinon, also in large format.

Me, I shoot 2 or 3 frames with this camera and then after Hi Rez scan, stitch them together for 6X17, and almost 6X24. Beats the heck out of $2500 worth of dedicated Panoramic Medium Format for my purposes.

How does this camera rank against digital. Well, the film frame size is 2X3 inches, or about 4.7 times the size of Full Frame Digital. When the film neg/transparency is Hi Rez scanned the file size, if TIFF, is from 200 to 250 Megapixels. The lens glass ranks among the best available, so resolution is very good.

I feel it safe to say that digital has not reached this realm yet for comparison. If so, then a sheet of 4X5 inch film is 13 times the size of a FF sensor, so go there!

So, my Winter shooting is ready. If I get a second body ($200), I could carry both cameras with the 65 and 100mm lenses. But that would require a pack mule.

I shoot a lot of film, but not into the miniature 35mm frame size. I say if you are going to shoot film... Shoot BIG Film. I buy my film on eBay, cold stored and often expired with great results.

For this camera, I take the exposed roll to Walmart. My local Walmart ships to the Fujifilm Professional Lab in the area, and I only have the 8 shots on 120 processed. Takes 10 days, Walmart never handles the film, and the negs w/prints always cost me under $10 a roll. No bad processing. Been using Walmart for this "Send Out Only" Process for ten years.

If interested on how I discovered that and what the procedure is, PM me.

Happy Holidays to me. All the gear is clean, serviced, shutter speeds on time, and ready to go. Thanks Frank!

GL690 65mm and 100mm

(Download)

TWO By THREE inch film frame, aspect ration of 35mm

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Large format, Oly Pen, Texas Leica

(Download)

Various Fuji rangefinders 1 digital

(Download)

Pano stitched from 6X9 film

(Download)

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Interesting topic - I too use Fuji's - but the film process is always a problem for me so I will PM you !

Kuzano

One of the components of the Walmart Medium Format film processing is whether any of the stores in your area have a Fujifilm Kiosk with the Fujifilm Envelopes and the drop slot for Send Out Only service.

If so, then you pack your 120 roll fim in an envelope with bold instructions and marked "SEND OUT ONLY". There is a toll free Fujifilm telephone number on the envelopes if you need to contact. Turnaround is ten days, and I will fill you in on other details if you PM me. My cost for processing and prints has never been over $10 and never a damaged or lost neg. I am only interested in the negs and transfers. They have no scan service on that.

Let me know if you want more information. I see that Walmart across the country sells Fujifilm in their stores. Finding the Kiosk is another thing and I have even had to sort it out at various Walmart stores. Sometimes, it's in the warehouse. But it's worth sorting it out, because it involve no participation on Walmart employees parts... in fact much better without it. All they have to do is throw the envelopes (that are in a bag in the kiosk) on the trucks going out and call you when your envelope gets back. They never touch the film or the roll... Hell, they never open the envelope. But the downside is they don't know what you are talking about unless you investigate your own information.

It's a great program, the processing is professional, and I've saved a ton of money over the years on my MF stuff.

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Is that a Toyo field camera in the last photo?

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

Can you download a 20MB version? I'd like to see the resolution.
Bob

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Nice rig!

Kuzano

I've had three or four of the Toyo Field camera's. Mostly 45A models. Heavy but a solid feature laden camera. I'm partial to the Toyo 45CF (carbon fiber). Has it's faults but half the weight of the 45A and 45AII

All the Toyo field cameras are about the best metal folding field camera's I have used, at about 6 plus pounds w lens.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

I can see you with one of those....

Kuzano

He does have sort of a Texas Leica look about him, and if he's playing with black and white film in medium format, I can say for a fact that 120 roll film is a bunch easier to load onto reels than 35mm. The chemistry is similar because it's just bigger film.

The 120 frame negative is 4.7 times larger than playing around with 35mm and once you see a 120 MF negative, you'll never be happy with 35mm again.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

That's a fact, Jack!
:thumbup:

(Ever load a 50 exposure 70mm reel?)

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

FWIW, the two shutter buttons make it the "Professional" version, released in 1974. Your negative is 6.25 X the standard 35mm negative.

Kuzano

Oops. my Math? Gotta recheck those figures. The two shutter buttons do help with the portrait mode hold on this camera, as it's pretty heavy held vertically and reaching around to the single button on top.

All the G series have a dark slide for closing to change lenses, which is often the one problem. I don't necessarily shy from the bodies with the non functional dark slide, as I can't see the benefit of mid roll changes on a roll of 8 exposures. The 220 film format is almost non existent at this point, so getting 16 exposures on a roll doesn't happen very often.

The 120 format is still widely available from vendors and on eBay.

Carl D Loc: Albemarle, NC.

Glad to see that there is a 120 shooter still around. I use a Hasselblad, Bronica, and a Yashicamat 124.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

great post.
i've used a couple of these over the years. resolution with the fuji lenses is superb. and as the rear element is much closer to the film, results usually are superior to any 6x6 slr, including hasselblad (which i use).

as my work entails some complex subjects, i use the linhof super techinka V 6x9 camera. this allows me to accurately work with the front and rear bellows for proper perspective. of course, the little tank weighs 6 pounds before i put the 6x9 roll film back on it!

AzGriz Loc: Sedona, Arizona

What procedure do you use to get your "high rez" scans? Do you make them yourself or do you send out for "high rez" drum scans?
I use a Pentax 67ii, Mamiya RZ 67 and Sinar 4x5.
Thank you